The Effect of Family Ownership on Different Dimensions of Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Large US Firms

Abstract

Previous research has shown that family firms differ from non‐family firms with regard to aggregate measures of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We argue that CSR is a multidimensional concept that comprises several aspects, which range from employee relations to ecological concerns and product issues. Based on an organizational and family identity perspective, we argue that the effect of family ownership can differ across various CSR dimensions. Family firms can be responsible and irresponsible regarding CSR at the same time. We use a dataset of large US firms to test our hypotheses. Our Bayesian regressions show that family ownership is negatively associated with community‐related CSR performance and positively associated with diversity‐, employee‐, environment‐ and product‐related aspects of CSR. The largest positive effect of family ownership on CSR performance exists with regard to product‐related aspects of CSR. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

The Corporate Social Responsibility of Family Businesses: An International Approach

“…For their part, Block and Wagner (2011) [97] argue that the effect of family ownership can differ across various CSR dimensions. Family firms can be responsible and irresponsible regarding CSR at the same time.…”

Corporate Social Responsibility Drivers and Barriers According to Managers’ Perception; Evidence from Spanish Firms

“…Highlighted aspects include the country-level institutional factors [92], the role that governments can play [93], institutional pressure [10,94] and developing an institutional framework [8]. (3) Reputation management: CSR has a positive effect on corporate reputation [36], and lowering the cost of capital [95], on loyalty [29] with the integration of the organization into its host community [27] on improving firms' reputations in relation to their stakeholders [96,97] and their performance in the eyes of governments [98]. This is also one of the most commonly mentioned aspects as a CSR driver, cited in 13.6% of the papers.…”

“…Some research projects such as Gamerschlag et al [34] show size-related CSR behavior differences. From this resource-based perspective, CSR is seen as providing internal benefits by helping a firm to develop new resources and capabilities related to know-how and lowering costs [35] or improving product quality and product innovation [36].…”

Is financial reporting quality related to corporate social responsability practices? Evidence from family firms

“…Since family firms are easily identifiable by society, they tend to pursue the interests of several stakeholders (Testera-Fuertes and Cabeza-García, 2013;Zellweger et al, 2013), thereby addressing societal demands (Block and Wagner, 2013).…”

“…Andres, 2008;Chau and Leung, 2006). Furthermore, there are several definitions of family firms, for instance some consider the presence of family on boards (Ho and Wong, 2001;Anderson & Reeb, 2003;Wan-Hussin, 2009;Darus et al, 2013); others as Block and Wagner (2013) define family firms as companies in which at least two members of the founding family are active in the firm as owners; Testera Fuertes and Cabeza-García (2013) require that the largest shareholder be a family member; and Gray (2002, 2010) use the percentage of common shares held by the founding family or their relatives as the measure of family ownership. Regarding the controversial measure of family business, it could be interesting for future studies to check our findings by using other definitions of family businesses.…”